Board turns down Rio Rancho charter school plan
Cost concerns cited as school aimed at minority students seeks backing
The Rio Rancho Public Schools Board of Education voted unanimously against a proposed charter school for minority youth recently but suggested that it seek endorsement from New Mexico’s chartering authority.
Former state Rep. Ray Begaye brought his request to open First Nations Preparatory Charter School in June and made several appeals to the board over the summer.
Cost was a critical consideration at the board meeting.
RRPS does not currently charter any schools. The ASK Academy and Sandoval Academy of Bilingual Education, the two charters in the city, are controlled by the New Mexico Public Education Commission. Legally, districts and the PEC both have the authority to grant charters.
RRPS administrators projected they would have to hire at least two people to handle one charter school because the state and federal compliance issues are so complex.
Albuquerque Public Schools charters 21 schools and has about a dozen staff dedicated to assisting them.
“I don’t know if we can generate the funding we would need for that (the hires),” Gary Tripp, strategic planning and engagement officer, told the board.
Several board members said the PEC is in a better position to support First Nations and any other charters that would like to come to Rio Rancho.
Begaye countered that the district will lose money if First Nations opens with a state charter because each student who leaves RRPS to attend his school will take some funding with them.
First Nations would benefit Rio Rancho and local families, Begaye said, by providing culturally sensitive curriculum for Hispanic and Native American youth.
“Rio Rancho has quite a few Navajo students,” said Begaye, a Shiprock resident who has taught Navajo classes. “How much attention is paid to them?
But board member Martha Janssen was concerned about the school model because it separates minority youth from others.
“I think we have a nice melting pot in our district,” she said.
Other questions centered on the school’s structure and oversight.
Board member Ramon Montaño felt that he did not have enough information about First Nation’s curriculum to back it. He requested that the board create more detailed processes for evaluating charter schools.
Board president Don Schlichte had the deepest concerns about charter schools in general, saying that he supports choice but thinks the state’s funding formula gives the charters too much money at the expense of districts.
“We are stealing from Peter to pay Paul,” he said. “The charter system is hurting the public school system.”
Begaye stressed that he wants to maintain a positive relationship with the board and said he will now approach PEC for a charter, a process that can take up to a year.
He said he had hoped RRPS would give his school a green light because he wants a collaborative relationship, not competition.
“You can ask state charter schools, ‘Do you communicate with the district?’ They don’t communicate,” Begaye said.